This week, languagecaster.com introduces the English for football phrase ‘to cause an upset‘. You can understand more about this phrase by reading the transcript below. You can also find many more examples of soccer vocabulary by going to our football cliches page here and our huge football glossary here.

to cause an upset

This week, we look at the phrase to ‘cause an upset‘. The first part of the phrase uses the verb ‘cause‘, which means to make happen or be the reason for something. This is combined with the noun ‘an upset’. An upset is a surprise or a shock, something out of the ordinary. Therefore, to cause an upset in football means to get a result that surprises people, to have a shock win. While we use this phrase for league games, it is perhaps most common in cup competitions. Yesterday, in Spain, Atlético Madrid beat their rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey. Atlético had not beaten Real since 1999 and were huge underdogs going into the cup final. They caused an upset in the cup. We could also say the win was an upset. When talking about causing an upset, other useful football phrases are minnows, giant killing, and underdogs.

Check out more football phrases by visiting our huge glossary page, where you can find hundreds of words, phrases and cliches connected to the world of football. If there is a phrase you need explaining send us a comment or email and we will try to explain it for you.